Free NEW WORLD TRILOGY (Trilogy Title) by Olsen J. Nelson

believe it is … or rather been allowed to believe it is.  What you think you know, you may not; what's unknown may really need to be known but may never be."  He stops and stares vacantly out into the street.  "There are things going on that are important, that tell us about who and what we are, where we're headed, and where we could, should and need to be headed, but I … we generally can't find out anything substantive about these things and often don't even know where to begin or how to frame the search, just because they're unknowns, and there are so many of them.  What's more, even though I'm essentially ignorant just like everyone else, I'm still essentially an educated member of society … well, was a member, that is."
    "Great!  It kind of puts words to the way I've been feeling lately."
    "Mm, most people know it at some level but suppress it the best they can; barely anyone does anything productive with it.  But that's just the thing: it's difficult to know what to do with such a feeling.  I mean, where's the way in?  And what's the cost if you try to find one?"
    "It's a lot more than it used to be."
    "It is."
    "So why isn't the price too high for you?"
    "Because I've already paid it."
    "You sure?"
    "For now, yeah.  Anyway, my growing feeling is that there's too much at stake not to give it a go."
    "You haven't given up, then?"
    "No, no … not at all.  It may look like I've given up to a conservative, but it's just a chance at real engagement for someone else … someone like me, like I'm becoming.  I suppose we could put it like that."
    "You're a radical, then?"
    "Not yet," he replies softly with a grin.
    "Let me know how it works out — I may join you."
    "You either have the feeling for it, which can be cultivated, or you don't."
    Sascha nods quietly, and they stare at each other for a couple of seconds.  She then breaks out of it and changes the subject.  "I wanna go to the countryside for a few days and climb a mountain and so forth.  I've got the addresses of a few travel agencies and …"
    "Sounds good.  I'd like to climb a mountain while I'm here.  It's been a long time … a very long time."
    "It might put things into perspective for you, then."
    "Mm, it'll hopefully put things into perspective for us both.”

 
     
     
    Chapter 7
     
     
    Two days later
     
    On a small bus, over two and a half hours out of Bangkok, Sascha and Ikaros sit near the back.  Sascha reads a book while Ikaros looks intently at a map of the region trying to work out the time it will take until they reach their destination.  "I reckon it'll only be another thirty minutes or so," he says without looking up.
    Just then the bus turns onto a narrow dirt track and slows down dramatically as it begins navigating its way along it.  Sascha and Ikaros look up together with surprise.
    "What's he doing?" Sascha asks.
    "I don't know.  I'm sure we're supposed to keep to the main road for a while yet.  Maybe we should …"
    "… ask the guide."
    Without replying, Ikaros gets up and heads towards the front of the bus.  He bends down next to the guide just behind the driver.  "Ah, excuse me, why did we just make that turn?  Aren't we supposed to …?"
    "Please take a seat, sir.  This is the shorter way.  We'll arrive in ten or fifteen minutes, okay?"
    Ikaros looks out the front of the bus and down the track ahead, and nods slowly.  "Okay, then."  He returns to his seat, noticing the majority of the passengers are Thai and are paying little to no attention to the odd change in route: only five other passengers are foreigners from what he can tell — three Europeans and what he thinks is a Korean couple.  After counting off all twenty-four passengers in his head while returning to his seat, he sits down next to Sascha.  "She reckons it's shorter."
    "Do you?"
    He shakes his head.  "Ah, no … not by the map, anyway."
     
    Thirteen minutes later
     
    The bus comes to a stop in the middle of the track and its doors